Now the Fishes had confidence in these words, and assembled from all sides, calling out:
"Take me!... Take me!... Me first! Me first!"...
The wicked Crane made them climb one after another onto her back, then she flew towards a great Rock situated a short distance off, and threw them all down on it—and devoured them at her ease.
"Friend," said the Crawfish, "it was with me that you had your first friendly conversation—why do you leave me behind, and take the others? Will you not save my life along with the rest?"
When the wicked Crane heard this, she thought to herself, "I am tired of eating fish, so to-day I will take this crawfish for a change!"
So she allowed the Crawfish to mount on her back, and began the journey to the Rock of sacrifice.
The Crawfish saw from a distance a great pile of bones on the Rock. She recognized them as the remains of the Fishes, and asked the Crane:
"Friend, how much further is this Lake? Are you not fatigued by my weight?"
"Crawfish," replied the Crane, "what makes you think that there is another Lake? I invented it, in order to preserve my life. Now then, call upon your tutelar Divinity—for I am going to throw you down on the Rock, and eat you!"
But no sooner had she finished speaking than her neck, which was as white and as tender as a lotus stem, was seized and pinched by the claws of the Crawfish—and her life was ended.